Badgersett Hybrid Chestnut trees are multi-generation selections from crosses between American, Chinese, Japanese, European, and Seguin chestnuts. They are quite variable in size and form, ranging from large bushes to very large, robust trees. Our breeding project was started with the most blight resistant trees we could find, and we have made test plantings in Alabama and China. Brandon Rutter-Daywater visited our planting in China in 2000-2001, and he confirms that the great majority of the trees are thriving and being harvested, though blight is everywhere. We offer seedlings from our best plants. Be aware that these hybrid chestnut seedlings are not as predictable in their performance as the hybrid hazels are, but we feel they're better than other chestnuts you'll find on the market. Expect about 10% of these seedlings to be appropriate for serious production.

These trees are absolutely cold hardy to Zone 5 and for trial in zone 4. We guarantee these are the most cold hardy chestnuts on the market anywhere!

Recommended plant spacing for maximum production: 20' between rows, 18"-3' between plants, thinned to 20' between plants by year 15 or so. Tighter final spacings within the row may be advisable for some kinds of wood-production coppice cycles.

NeoHybrid Chestnut Tubelings

Badgersett Farm is the coldest, driest place anyone tries to grow chestnuts as a crop- and our breeding to deal with these conditions is paying off! Our 2012 crop was only slightly affected, if at all, by the extremely late spring freeze and extreme drought this year. Overall seedling performance is still not as reliable as our hazels, but a properly culled seedling field of these trees will be some of the tastiest, most reliable chestnuts around. For taste, don't just take our word for it: check out the article in the Atlantic Monthly from a few years back.

While seedlings will be variable, the majority will resemble the type stated. We only sell seedlings from tested parents. Our parent trees have proven hardy, healthy, and productive with test winters of -40F (that's 40 below 0). Parenting ability is also tested and proven for decades. These seedlings will perform!

Since we're a research operation, we offer several chestnut seedling types, and it can get confusing! Order our "Standard Chestnuts" and we'll send you what we've got. Availability and shipment on your requested date are most likely with this selection! A good deal for test plantings, and could be the right choice for part of your back yard or production plan as well. These are most likely to be All-Purpose or Nut type, possibly Select, and not likely to be Tree type. Breeding IDs not available.

N-Che Nut-Type Chestnuts

These parents tend to put serious, reliable production of high-quality nuts first. Because of the large and early investment in nuts, they tend to make smaller, or at least slower-growing, trees than the Tree-Type or All-Purpose seedlings.

AP-Che All-Purpose Chestnuts

These trees are from parents with a record of making a tree that will make timber if you let it, and good crops of nuts. At this point, many of our largest nut crops are from All-Purpose trees, since they often have more tree to fill with nuts than nut-type parents do. Unless you specifically desire smaller, slower growing trees, we recommend All Purpose be a substantial part of your maximum-production chestnut field.

T-Che Tree-Type Chestnuts

These trees will be more likely than the others to grow as straight forest trees, and are likely to have the highest percentage of American chestnut in them. They still bear nuts, but their crops are often of smaller nuts, and not as large or as reliable as those of the Nut-Types.

SPECIAL NOTE: The chestnut blight is working its way through our plantings now, and more Tree-Type chestnuts are dying than other types. We expect several of our tree-type chestnuts to survive and do well, but this testing is currently under way, and waiting a couple of years for your tree-type purchase is Very Likely to result in better blight resistance. Availability is somewhat limited in 2013.

Select Chestnut Pricing110: $9.45 ea 11100: $7.55 ea >100: $6.05 ea

Select chestnut parents are available for Nut and All-Purpose types. Select parents have set themselves apart by producing particularly good, large, and/or reliable crops, or by having exceptionally healthy and robust wood growth.Indicate item code AP-S-Che for All-Purpose Select Chestnuts, and N-S-Che for Nut-Select Chestnuts.

Chestnut Seed

No longer shipping seed for the 2014-15 season; now taking orders for seed from the 2015 harvest

For the first time in over 20 years, we're offering chestnuts for seed. If you've got the facilities to safely keep these nuts in cold storage, and can get them going while providing effective protection against the massive array of nut eating pests, these could work for you.

Seed is sold on a "viable at shipping" basis. If you order 100 nuts, we will send you enough nuts that you will get at least 100 that are alive when we ship them. If they are treated well over the winter, you could expect 70%-90% of these to germinate.